The present invention relates to an entertainment system using a operation device connected thereto.
An entertainment system to be used by connecting to the external display is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-313730. The entertainment system comprises, as shown in FIG. 1, a machine body 10 having an optical disk reproducing section 1, and an operation device 20 for accepting the user""s operations connected thereto. A processing unit within the machine body 10 receives a game program and image information etc. recorded in the optical disc from the optical disk reproducing section 1 and displays the image on the external display. The processing unit communicates with the operation device 20, to accept contents of the user""s oprations, executes a game program according to the accepted user""s controls, and changes the display images etc.
The operation device 20 comprises a operation body 22 having switches 24-29 arranged thereon for receiving the user""s operations, a cable 23, and a connector 21. The operation unit 20 is connected with respect to each other by inserting the connector 21 into the connecting portions 4a and 4b of the machine body 10 as shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 2, and FIG. 3.
The connector 21 comprises nine pins 601 therein as shown in FIGS. 5A, 5B, and 5C. On the upper surface of an inserting portion 501 of the connector 21, there are provided retaining portions 502, 503, and 504 for preventing the connector 21 from being detached from the connecting portions 4a and 4b of the machine body 10 as shown in FIG. 4. The retaining portions 502, 503, and 504 are recesses to engage with the metal projection provided within the connecting portions 4a and 4b. A grounding metal 505 is inserted on the bottom surface of the recess of the retaining portion 503 located in the center, and is exposed from the bottom surface of the retaining portion 503. The grounding metal 505 is supplied with a ground potential when it comes into contact with the metal projection at the ground potential provided on the machine body 10 to be engaged therewith. Therefore, the retaining portion 503 located in the center serves not only as a retaining portion, but also as a grounding terminal.
The machine body 10 is also provided with receiving portions 3a, 3b for a card-type external memory device device 30 to be mounted thereon, and switches 11, 12.
In recent years, the development of the operation device 20 has been pursued to produce a new model by making improvement to the operation device 20 described above, for example, by increasing the number of operations that are accepted by the switches 24-29 of the operation device body 22, or by increasing communication speed between the operation device 20 and the machine body 10. However, since it is preferable to ensure compatibility between the operation device of the new model and that of the conventional model in order to enhance convenience, the connector of the operation device for the new model should have the same configuration as that of the connector of the conventional operation device 20.
On the other hand, the machine body cannot support all the communication modes for each model, unless the machine body can discriminate whether the connected operation device is the conventional model or the new model. In general, a pin is added to the new model for discriminating the new model from the conventional one. However, adding such a pin to the operation device of the new model changes the configuration of the connector, whereby the compatibility cannot be established. In order to ensure the compatibility as well as discrimination of the model, there requires such a structure that can discriminate the model types while maintaining the configuration of the connector as it was in the conventional model.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an entertainment system that can discriminate the models between the compatible operation devices.
In order to achieve the object described above, the following entertainment system is provided according to the present invention. That is, an entertainment system comprising an operation device having a connector, and a machine body having a connecting portion to be connected to said connector wherein:
the connector is provided with a plurality of recesses on the peripheral surface thereof, said plurality of recesses including the first recess and the second recess;
the connecting portion is provided with a plurality of metal projections to be engaged with the plurality of recesses respectively, the plurality of metal projections including the first metal projection to be engaged with the first recess and the second metal projection to be engaged with the second recess;
the connector includes a metal plate, and the metal plate is exposed inside of at least the first recess and the second recess; and
the machine body has a supplying portion for supplying a predetermined potential to the first metal projection for supplying the predetermined potential to the metal plate and a detecting portion for detecting whether a potential of the second metal projection is equal to the predetermined potential or not in order to detect whether the operation device connected to the connecting portion is said operation device or not.